Trujillo History Facts and Timeline

(Trujillo, La Libertad, Peru)

Trujillo lies in the middle of a sprawling coastal metropolitan area consisting of no less than nine separate municipalities. The Moche River meets the Pacific Ocean in this 'City of Eternal Spring', where the average annual temperature is a pleasant 19°C / 66°F.

It is not surprising that the nearby Huanchaco Beach and surfing resort now ranks amongst the La Libertad region's most popular tourist destinations, although the history of Trujillo also includes one of the New World's first permanent cities and a record-breaking adobe city.

Chan Chan

The true history of Trujillo begins with the Moche civilisation, northern Peru's most dominant people until the arrival of the 9th century. The Moche were most famous for their beautiful ceramics, many of which have been unearthed at Trujillo's archaeological sites.


None of these sites are more impressive than Chan Chan, the world's biggest city constructed entirely from adobe bricks. Chan Chan, the capital of the Chimu civilisation during the 9th century, is often compared with Mexico's Teotihuacan pyramids or the ancient Egyptian temples for its intricacy and sheer size. Chan Chan's sun temple is actually Peru's largest adobe pyramid.

Chimu Alliance and Spanish Settlement

The Spanish originally established Trujillo as an alliance of four separate Chimu settlements in the year of 1534. The new city and its alliance, named Nova Castile Trujillo by visiting Spanish explorers, were formed to protect the region against the Incas during this part of the history of Trujillo. Just a decade after the city was first founded, the community's population grew to more than 1,000 people, thanks to its booming economy driven by successful agriculture.

Earthquakes and Pirates

Three years after construction began on the city's cathedral, a devastating earthquake struck in 1619. It took several years to rebuild the now destroyed city, whose next biggest threat would soon become pirates invading its Pacific Ocean coastline, just a few kilometres away. During the late 1680s, in excess of 100,000 bricks were used to build the elliptical fortified wall that would surround Trujillo for some two centuries. Two more earthquakes and four severe floods hit the city between the early 1700s and 1814.

Peru's Original Capital

By the turn of the 19th century, Trujillo was a worthy rival to Lima as Peru's most powerful city. Trujillo declared independence from Spain at the end of 1820 and became Peru's first national capital three years later. The city and its surrounding region were known throughout Peru for being both peaceful and productive.

The Chicama and the Moche valleys became major sugar producing areas and large numbers of European immigrants came to the city at this time in the history of Trujillo, all in search of a better life. However, the peace and tranquility came to an abrupt end when Chilean troops occupied the city and plundered its surrounding countryside in the early 1880s.

The Revolution Arrives

Many Peruvians lost their lives during the bloody Revolution of Trujillo, which caused 1932 to be known as the city's sad 'Year of Barbarism.' Trujillo would recover from this low point in its history, to dramatically expand and become a major tourist destination in northern Peru.

Nowadays, this is a modern city, home to a population of more than three quarters of a million people. It was selected in 2010 as the very first city from Latin America to participate in an Inter-American Development Bank pilot project for sustainable cities.